Advance and Be Mechanized (Tom and Jerry)

Advance and Be Mechanized (Tom and Jerry)
Mouse Into Space, now with the aesthetic of a bad Chuck Jones outing.
Episode Number: 160 Air Date: August 25, 1967 Writer: Bob Ogle Director: Ben Washam<br>Chuck Jones (opening sequence) Previous episode: Shutter Bugged Cat Next episode: Purr-Chance to Dream

Advance and Be Mechanized is a 1967 Tom and Jerry cartoon directed by Ben Washam and produced by Chuck Jones, and is the final outer space-themed shorts, following Gene Deitch's Mouse Into Space, O-Solar Meow, and Guided Mouse-ille (all released in 1962 and 1967). In this short, Jerry uses a robot mouse to snatch a sample from a lunar cheese mine being mined by robots; Tom gives chase with a robot cat.

Why It's Not Technological

1. Just like the almost all of the Gene Deitch era of Tom and Jerry shorts as well as some of the Chuck Jones ones, this episode is a huge waste of potential.
2. Another main problem with this short is that the pacing is all over the place in this short. It did start slowly at first, but all of the sudden, it went way too fast, which may explain why most of the gags fall flat.
3. There's hardly any slapstick humor found in this short, which is unacceptable for a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
   • In fact, there's absolutely no jokes or humor whatsoever present in this short up until the scene where Tom unsuccessfully attempts to buy lunch from a vending machine, hence making the short very boring to sit through.
   • Some jokes are very repetitive that they get old really quickly, such as the ending where Tom and Jerry, under the control of their respective robots, robotically beat each other up over and over.
4. The short's logic makes no sense, even by Tom and Jerry<nowiki/>'s standards, mainly due to the following plot hole:
   • Originally in Guided Mouse-Ille, O-Solar Meow and for most of this short, it is heavily established that both robot-Tom and robot-Jerry are ordinary robots that can only be moved based on Tom and Jerry controlling them with their respective monitors. But in the short's ending, then out of nowhere the two robots are revealed to be sentient when they decided to turn against their respective owners, all without any explanation on how is it possible.
5. Robot-Tom and Robot-Jerry are pretty unlikable and bland, unlike their previous two appearances in O-Solar Meow and Guided Mouse-Ille, mainly due to their increased screen time in this short, as well as the fact that both robots serve more as plot devices than actual characters.
6. There is an infamous filler scene where Tom is seeing three different sceneries on the monitor, three times.
7. The animation is reused in this episode, a chase scene that is reused from Guided Mouse-Ille, with the robot-Tom chasing robot-Jerry, but robot-Jerry levitates himself into the air. Robot-Tom extends his legs up and tries again, but then robot-Jerry drops himself. Robot-Tom continues his chase until he almost wrecked over some obstacles. Robot-Tom crouches to avoid a large fixture and then extends himself high to avoid a second one. He chases robot-Jerry again until he hits a doorjamb.
8. Weird and cruel ending: Both the robots control the furry leaders, as Jerry slaps Tom first. Tom hits back and they return to Jerry and Tom battling each other which repeats over and over again and never stops, and the cartoon just ends.
9. The episode feels unfinished, lazy, with its reused animation WIS #7, and has not so much of a plot with only 4 minutes and 52 seconds of footage.
10. This cartoon, along with Shutter-Bugged Cat, marked the the time when the Chuck Jones era of Tom and Jerry started to decline in quality due to budget cuts in theatrical animation in the late-1960s.
    • It is very likely the main reason why the Chuck Jones era of Tom and Jerry was later cancelled by MGM in 1967 after the release of the final Tom and Jerry cartoon Purr-Chance to Dream.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Good music by Dean Elliott.
2. Although filler, Tom pressing a button to see some sceneries is kind of decent, even though there is a sound three times with different pitches.
3. As most of the Chuck Jones' T&J shorts, the animation and the backgrounds are pretty nice to look at.
   • Shamus Culhane and Al Eugster (who are both uncredited) occasionally provide quality animation.
4. Some funny moments here or there.
5. Tom and Jerry are still likable characters, as always.

Trivia

• This is the third and final time that a space composite has been shown since Guided Mouse-Ille and O-Solar Meow.
• The end of this episode is quite similar to the end of Push-Button Kitty, albeit with the roles reversed, where robot-Tom and robot-Jerry turn Tom and Jerry into robots, while the previous episode was where Jerry made Tom a robot by turning on the remote control after Tom accidentally eats Mechano's computer hub.
• With only 4 minutes and 52 seconds of footage (not counting the credits and cards), Advance and Be Mechanized is the shortest Tom and Jerry short ever made in the Golden Age of American Animation, much shorter than Matinee Mouse.
  • This is also the shortest Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry short to be made, Much shorter than Hanna-Barbera's The Dog House and Gene Deitch's Landing Stripling.
• Shamus Culhane and Al Eugster who both work on this short, are the people who work at Paramount Cartoon Studios.

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